Strip-feeding method for sewing-machines.



J. P. WEIS.

STRIP FEEDING METHOD FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLIC ATION FILED NOV. n. 1916.

LWLMQ, Patented June 26, 191?.

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, J. P. WEIS.

STR|P FEEOING METHOD FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 11, 1916.

1,231,542 Patented June 26,1917.

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IIVL EAITOR M mm;

ATTORNEY J. P. WEIS.

STRIP FEEDING METHOD FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV 11. I9l6.

LQLQI Patented 11111626, 1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- //V I/E IV TOR 102L702 W l i By I I J. P. WEIS.

STRIP. FEEDING METHOD FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV H. 1916.

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INVENTOR.

A TTORNI; Y

Patented J 11110 26, 1917.

J. P. WEIS.

STRIP FEEDING METHOD FOR SEWING MACHINES.

i a A T TOR NE Y R O T N E V m Patented June 26, 1917.

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" Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2%, 1191?.

Original application filed July 12, 1915, Serial No. 39.222. Divided and this application filed November 11, 1916. Serial No. 130,710.

used for a variety of purposes, such as hem-,

ming and inset-t n an elastic strip in the bottoms of shirtwalsts or the tops of skirts,

dusting caps, bathing suits, blouses, etc. It

may be equally well adapted for various uses other than hemming where a strong top and bottom-feeding action is required.

In the hemming of knickerbocker bloomers, the usual method has been to seam up the garment, then cover the edge of the top and bottom with an overstitch to form a selvage, then the work was passed on to a hemming machine where the tops and bottoms were turned over and at the same time the operators would insert a loop of elastic, guidin it in by handinto the folded hem while 1 b method was to prepare the work as above and after the garments were finished the elastic bandwas inserted with a bodkin or other instrument by hand and the ends joined. These methods have proven to be very slow and expensive, because it is difiicult to predetermme the lengths of the rubber band with respect to the size of the arments before and after finishing. That is to say, the elastic strip as used is far from being uniform in width, thickness and elasticity, therefore when lt lS cut in predetermined lengths and made endless in loop form one 3 loop will have a greater amount of elasticity than another and great difficulty has been experienced in getting a uniform finish for the work.

All this is done away with by the put e stitching proceeded. These elastic bands were made endless by a se arate operation, to facilitate the handling y theoperators, who did the hemming; Another cally performed and yet manually con-- trolled, so that the amount of the elastic strip inserted is practically determined by p the size of the garment being stitched, while the amount of gathering of the goods at'the hem is determined and controlled by the, mechanism for guidin the elastic strip, thus greatly simplifying t e operation and enabling a large productionof uniform won;-

with a ,neatlycoverededge and with'the elastic strip securely fastened at the beginning and ending of the stitching operations.

A still more important feature of the present invention resides in the fact that it is desirable to have the front portion of the garment, especially a waist band, free from gathers sothat it will lie flat, and also to control the gathered portions at the sides and rear thereof so that no bulky appearance will appear at the front- This was not possiblewith the old methods, for in order to accom lish this the elastic band must be in a normal condition at the front, where no gathers appear, and be stitched at this portion to maintain this condition, otherwise the gathers would creep or shift along the elastic band from place to place. This was a serious objection to the work produced by the old methods. The present application is a division of my contemporaneously pending application, Serial No. 39,222, filed July 12, 1915.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part-of this specification, Figure 1 is a front view of the machine; Fig. 2' is an end view of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a top view of the working mechanism showing the goods feeding to and from the stitching and feeding mechanism, the top arm being removed to show the juxtaposition of the hemming guide, the elastic guide and the controlling guide acting in and upon the hem; Fig. 4 is a partly sectional view of the stitching andfeeding mechanism; Fig. 5 is a front View showing various parts in section and is intended to lllustrate the clamping mechaniam by means of which the elastic band is placed under tension and how its guiding means. is shifted laterally simultaneously with the action of this mechanism; Fig. 6 shows the hemmed portion of a garment produced by this improved machine; Fig. 7 is a detailperspective view of the elastic tension release and guiding means; and Fig. 8 is a perspective detail view of one of the clamping plates, showing the knurled or.

serrated surface over which the elastic strip passes.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures of the drawings.

The base 1 of the sewing machine frame has suitable bearin s 2 and 4 in which the main driving sha 3 is supported. An overhanging arm 5 carries the usual needle bar bearings 6 and needle operating mechanism indicated generally by 7, which is of well known construction, operated from the hand wheel and eccentric 8 carried by the main shaft 3. Stitch regulating mechanism 9 for actuating the feed has the well known adjustable crank device 10 for operating the feeding mechanism. The looper mechanism 11 is of the well known twin needle, single looper. metropolitan construction, and therefore a detailed description thereof is deemed unnecessary. A pitman 12 extends from the adjustable crank 10 to the rocker frame 13, which is pivotally supported, as at 14, on the machine base 1 and has connected therewith the usual feed bar 15 pivotally connected at 16 to the feed lift eccentric strap 17, operated by the eccentric 18 carried by the main shaft adjacent to the looper vibrating eccentric 19, see Fig. 5. The lower feed dog 20, see Fig. 4, cooperates with the presser foot 21 carried by the presser bar 22, which operatesin the well known manner to coact' in the feeding and stitching of the work. A top feeding mechanism also coacts with the presser foot mechanism and the bottom feeding mechanism and has an arm 23 secured to a shaft 24 carried by the rocker frame 13, and as the feed bar 15 is also secured to this shaft 24 there is a fixed relation *between the pivot- 16 and the rock shaft. 25 carried by the arm 23. That is to say, these. two parts are practically as one when secured to the shaft 24. so that any movement imparted to the bottom feed dog is also imparted by means of the curved arm 23 to the top feed dogs 26 and 27 of the arm 23. The top feeds 26 and 27 are adjustably secured to a rock shaft 25 by clamping means 29, which affords a means of setting the top feed dogs to and from the bottom feed to suit the requirements. The feed dogs 26 and 27 extend from the rear of the stitching mechanism up, into and along the side of the presser foot 21, so that aportion of the feed dog 27 extends and operates in the rear and in line with the stitching mechanism while the feed dog- 26 operates adjacent thereto. Each of thesefeed dogs has an upturned end 30 so as not to hook into the top portion of the hem at the commencement of 'the stitching operation. The upturned end 31 of the presser foot 20 is for the same purpose. These upturned ends of the presser footand feed dogs respectivelyassist greatly in the rapid handling of the work. The rock shaft 25 has a threaded end 32 to receive. nuts 33, thereby to control the end movement of the shaft 25. Secured to the other end of this shaft 25 is an arm 34 extending forwardly and having pivotally attached thereto a link 35. A similar par-' allel link 36 is also pivotally secured to the arm 34 on a center with the shaft 25, so that it will have merely a lifting action during its travel to and fro. The top end of this link 36 is pivotally secured to a rocker arm 38, which is pivotally secured, as at 39,- to a yoke 40. The yoke 40 is drilledto re- -,ceive the presser foot bar 22 and is slotted adjusting the pressure of the top feed dogs on the work. The guide bar 43 is connected with the presser foot bar by the connection 48 so as to havev the same vertical rise and fall as the presser foot bar and operates in the bearings 49 and carries a pin 50 at the lower end thereof to act as an abutment to limit the'downward movement of the yoke 40. This also affords a means of lifting the top feed members from the work at the time the presser foot is lifted, and under normalv working conditions, that is when the work is under the presser foot, the upper feed dogsare lifted slightly and by reason of the link 35 the yoke 40 is lifted away from the pin 50 so that an independent pressure is exerted through the top feed mechanism on the work fromthe spring 45, while the main pressure is exerted from the spring 51 to the presser bar 22 and the presser foot 21 independently transmitted through the arm 23 from the lower feeding means through the rock shaft 25, and by reason of the links 35 and 36 connected to the arm 234i and to the rocker arm 38 the upward movement of the link 36, caused by the lifting of the bottom feed dog, will rock the arm 38 on the pivot 39 so that the link 35 and the top feeds 26 and 27 Will move downward to clamp the work on to the bottom feed 20. That is to say, a clamping up and down movement and a pulling movement are obtained in the construction shown. At the rear end of a feed ing stroke the reverse action takes place. The bottom feed is drawn downward away from the work, the top feeds lifted upward away from the Work as they move forward and at the forward end of the stroke they are brought together to again clamp the work in the feeding action.

Heretofore the connecting and actuating means from the bottom feed to the top feed extended directly from the end of the feed bar, which carries the feed dog, through the usual opening in the cloth plate, and therefore to remove the cloth plate this connecting means had to be swung out of position, being hinged or otherwise constructed to permit the removal of the cloth plate, whereas in the present construction the curved arm 23 extending from the upper shaft 24 and up over the cloth plate has its hub 28 in substantially the same location as if the link or connecting means were connected directly as above described. Thus it will be seen that the cloth plate generally indicated by 52, being slotted at 53, may beremoved without disturbing or disconnecting the top feeding mechanism from the bottom feeding mechanism.

The cloth plate 52 is provided with a slide plate 55, see Fig. 3, having adjustably s'ecured thereto a guide 56, which is-provided with an upstanding portion 57 to guide the edge of the hem 58 at the stitching position.

Adjustably secured to the "cloth plate in front of the stitching position is the hemming guide 59 having an overhanging extension 60 and a reduced portion 61 extending close to the needles to guide the raw edge of the work in between the two needles -so that it will be covered by the overstitch made from the two needle threads and the looper thread. Overhanging the reduced portion 61 of the hemming guide is a flattened guide tube 62, slotted as at 63 on an angle of forty-five degrees for the passage of the elastic strip. This tube is secured to a slide 64 confined to lateral movements by the screws 65 that is movements transversely of the line of stitches or the direction of feed of the work. This slide 64 is slotted .as at 66 at the outer end and is bent down,

as at 67, to coact with a wedge or cam piece 68 carried by a rod 69 provided with a collar 70, see Figs. 2 and 7, having an outwardly and upwardly projecting arm 71 having a beveled or tooth-formed end 71. The rod 69 operates in a bearing 72 having a base 73 secured to the table top 74, and this guides the rod in its vertical movements. A hole 75 in the table top 74 provides a space for the spring 76 which surrounds the rod 69, with one end acting against the bottom of the bearing 72 and the other end against a collar 77 thereby to normally hold the rod 69 downward. A floor treadle 83 is, by means of a chain 82, connected with a lever 79 pivotally carried by a bracket 81, and this lever 79 has connection with the rod 69 thereby to shift it upward against the action of'its spring 76 when the treadle is operated. Secured to the depending end 84 of the cloth plate 52 is a clamping plate 85 having a clamping tension member 86 pivoted at 87 and drilled at 88 to receive a tension post 89, which is secured in the plate 85. Said tension post carries a spring 90 and adjusting means 91 to regulate the pressure of the clamping member 86 against the plate 85. The clamping member 86 has reinforcing ribs 92 to prevent bending at the hole 88, where the pressure occurs. The front end of this clamping member 86 is provided at both its top and bottomedges with guiding projections 93, thereby forming guides for the elastic strip. The clamping plate also has a forwardly extending curved end 94 coacting with a somewhat similar extension 95 carried by the plate 85, see Fig. 3, so that the tooth 71 may operate therebetween and move this clamping member 86 away from the plate 85 against the action of its spring 90 when the rod 69 is treadle shifted upward. The inner faces of the plate 85 and member 86 may be knurled or serrated, as at 96 Fig. 8, to insure more effective action if desired. Located underneath the table is a supply of the elastic band or strip 97, and this extends upward so as to pass between the plates 85 and 86 and the guides 93 of the clamping plate 86 overhanging the top and bottom edges of the plate 85, which thus guide the elastic strip to the slot 66, from whence it passes to the top and over the shiftable slide or plate 64 into the an ular slot 63 of the tube 62 which operates 5058 to the stitching mechanism and by which its direction of movement is changed. The cloth plate 52 carries a pin 98, see Fig. 7, to which is secured a spring 99, the opposite end of which is attached to the slide 64, as at 100, and this s ring normally holds the end 67 of the sli e against the beveled end of the wedge 68 so that the delivery end of the tube 62 is at the right of and delivers the tape out of the path of the needles.

Referring to Fig. 6, A represents one portion of a bloomer. top or other garment. B. represents another portion thereof. CG

represents the front and rear seam joining the portions together after the hemming is done, D the plain portion of the hem at. the

front, lithe point at which tension is ap plied to the-elastic strip, F the finish of that portion of the hem Where the elastic is again fastened, G the commencement of the hem of the other portion where the elastic is fastened, and H the ending of the gathered portion onthe side A. In other words, Fig. 6

- show-s the elastic strip inserted'into the hem and raw edge of the hem covered by stitches, the elastic strip being fastened at the rear seam in the midst of the gathers, and also fastened at the front scam in the center of the plain portion. At this plain portion the elastic is stitched along its edge by the inside needles for a distance of three or four inches each side of the center seam. This leaves the plain. portion of the hem without athers at the front of the garment, confin- 1ng all gathers at the rear thereof. The lower or open ends of the legs are hemmed in a substantially similar way to the top or waist of the garment as shown in Fig. 6,

that is with a slight plain portion at the joining seam Where the ends of the elastic are stitched for about a half inch each side of the seam. The portions of the garment come to the machine operator as they are cut and before any seaming up is done. The hems are made at the lower ends of the leg as they are at the waist ortop of the garment by shifting the elastic guide over into the needle path so that the elastic is stitched at the beginning, then the treadle is released, the elastic guide shifted to the right'so that the elastic will be guided clear of the stitching needles, at which time the elastic is also clamped, and the goods fed on to the elastic in this condition until the end is reached. The elastic guide is again shifted so that the needle will stitch the elastic as atthe beginning. The other leg is started in thesame manner. The hem ming of the top is as stated likewise handled except that the elastic guide is held to the left so that the'needle stitches into the clastie for a greater distance. Then the garment is seamed up and down the two leg portions, making a "seam up the legs and up drawn taut at the finish and tacked down. These, of course, were very slow methods, and the work was unsightly.

, From the foregoing it will be seen that when the treadle 83 is operated the lever 79 will actuate the rod 69 and compress the 0 spring 76, thus forcing the beveled end 71 of the clamp releasebetween the members and 86 of the clamping device so as to open the same and release the elastic strip so that it will move freely from the supply to and 7 past the stitching position. At the same time the wedge 68 of the slide shifter moving upward forces the depending end 67 of the slide 64 outward, thereby shifting the guide tube. 62 to the left so that the right hand 30 needle will penetrate and stitch the elastic at all times while the mechanism remains in said position, as at D Fig. 6. Instantly, as the treadle 88 is released, the springs 7 6 and 99 cause the wedge 68, clamp 71 and 85 slide 64 carrying the elastic tube to assume their normal positions and so keep the elastic free and away from the stitching line, while maintaining the elastic in a stretched condition to its full extent, or nearly so. That is to say, at the time the elastic-strip is clamped between the plates 85 and 86, and consequently as the work passes through the stitching mechanism, the elastic strip is automatically stretched and not sewed along its edge, so that When the Work is removed from the machine this elastic stripassumes its normal condition and so gathers the hem as illustrated at E to F and G to H. This action on )the 'piece of workillustrated takes 100 place at the-beginning and ending of each piece beingstitched or tacked so that the ends of the elastic are fastened and will not become displaced. while in the hem, and, as stated, as the work is delivered from the machine the elastic assumes its normal or unstretched condition, gathering the goods as it leaves the feeding and presser foot mechanism.

From the foregoing it will be seen that no in order to stitch and feed the work properly', as well as the elastic strip under heavy tension, 9. very strong feedingaction is necessary, which is obtained in the mechanism described and by means of which the hemming operations are performed on one machine rapidly in a simple manner, whereas heretofore several machines were required, constituting as many operations to complete the work.

In some instances the 'shiftable elastic strip guide may be stationary, by reason of the fact; that when tension is placed upon the elastic stripit narrows the same so that it will miss the needles and not be stitched,

but when the tension upon the strip is released .the elastic strip widens and thus brings one edge thereof under the needles.

' stitches and then at a .certain Both of these methods of procedure are within the purview of my invention, since it will be obvious that by merely removing the part 68v and tightening the screws which hold the shiftable guide the guide will be held stationary while the clamping means will still be operated through the medium of the treadle, and the part 71 carried by the rod 69.

The term clamped as used in the specification and claims is intended to mean that the band is clamped or tensioned in such manner that the normal feeding movement thereof is retarded sufliciently to accomplish the purpose set forth, and this retardation may be accomplished by so clamping or retarding the normal feed movement of the strip without necessarily positively clamping it so as to entirely prevent all movement thereof, and therefore the statement in the speclfication and claims that the feeding movement of the elastic strip is prevented is intended to mean that the normal feeding movement thereof is prevented or retarded sufliciently to accomplish the object set forth, and the claims are to be read and interpreted with these distinctions in mind.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of attachingan elastic strip to a piece of work which consists in attaching one part of said strip to said Work by. stitching and feeding said elastic strip to the work, and during such feeding movement tensioning the strip thereby to stretch and narrow it whereby it will avoid the period releasing said strip thereby to permit it to widen so as to be stitched along a part thereof.

2. The method of hemming a garment which consists in forming a hem and simultaneously tacking one end of an elastic strip in said hem, then simultaneously with the formation of the hem stitching said elastic strip along its edge, then shifting one relatively to the other the garment and strip away from the stitching -mechanism. and placing the strip under tension while continuing to hem the garment, and then shifting said previously shifted part back to the stitching mechanism and tacking the strip at a predetermined point in the hem, where by on the removal of the garment the tension on the strip will be relieved and one part of the garment will be flat and another part contain the previously stretched elastic strip wil be gathered.

3. The method of hemming a garment which consists in forming a hem and simultaneously tacking one end of an elastic strip in said hem, then simultaneously with the formation of the hem stitchin said elastic strip along its edge, then shifting the strip awa from the stitching mechanism and placing said strip under tension while continuing .to hem "the garment, then shifting said strip back'to the stitching mechanism and tacking the strip at a predetermined point in the hem, whereby on the removal of the garment the tension on the strip will be relieved and one part of the garment will be flat and another part containing the pre-' VlOlSlY stretched elastic strip will be gath ere 4. The method of attaching an elastic strip to a piece of work which consists in attaching onepart of said strip to said work and then retarding the strip thereby to move said strip away from the stitching mechanism, and then releasing the strip to permit it to return to the stitching mechanism.

5. The method of attaching an elastic strip to a piece of work which consists. in attaching one part of said strip to said work and then shifting relatively one to the other said work and strip away from the stitching mechanism, and then shifting the previously shifted part back to the stitching mechanism and placing said elastic strip under tension when said shifted part is away from the stitching mechanism.

6. The method of attaching an elastic strip to a piece of work, which consists in attaching one art of said strip to the Work and then shiftlng said strip away from the stitching mechanism and placing it under tension durin the time it is away from the stitching mec anism, and then shifting it back to the stitching mechanism and-relieving the tension thereon.

7. The method of" attaching an elastic strip to a piece of work which consists in stitching the strip to the work while the stri is in unstretched condition and then shi ing the strip away from the stitching and then shifting the strip back to "the stitching mechanism and again stitching it. 9. The method of attachin an elastic strip to a piece of work, whic consists in attaching one part of said stri to the piece of work and feeding such elastic strip to the work, and during such feeding movement retarding the strip thereby to place the same under tension and narrow it whereby it will avoid the needles and then at a certain period releasing said strip thereby topermit it to widen so as to be .stitched along a part thereof.

10. The method of attaching an elastic strip to a piece of work which consists in attaching one part of said strip to the work mechanism and simultaneously releasing and then shifting one-relatively to theother, such tension. I

' said work and stri) away from the stitch- -Signed at New York, in the county of 10 ing mechanism an simultaneously retard- New York and State of New York, this 6th ing the elastic strip to place it under tenday November, 1916.

sion to narrow it and then shifting the prev viously shifted part back to the stitching J OHN P. WEIS. 

